Ferguson Cops Start Using Body Cameras in Wake of Unrest

Members of the Ferguson Police Department wear body cameras during a rally on Aug. 30, 2014, in Ferguson. Like a number of departments around the U.S., Ferguson police began using the wearable cameras after Michael Brown was killed. There are no video recordings of the incident involving Brown and officer Darren Wilson.

Law enforcement officers in Ferguson, Mo. attached body cameras to their uniforms while policing a peaceful demonstration on Saturday, three weeks after the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager by a police officer triggered violent clashes between police and protestors in the St. Louis suburb.

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told the St. Louis Post—Dispatch that his department received a donation of 50 wearable cameras from two surveillance companies last week. The company representatives led the department in a training session on Saturday. “They are really enjoying them,” Jackson said of the body cameras, which captured video and audio recordings at a protest march on Saturday.

Advocates of a “Mike Brown Law,” named after the teenager who was shot by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, have petitioned for a law that would require police to wear body cameras at all times during their patrols to increase transparency.

Concerns about cost and a dearth of research into their effectiveness have hampered widespread adoption of the surveillance technique.